Topic: second marriage

I became the mom I’d always hoped to be. “I know you can’t see it now, but you’ll end up appreciating the nights your children are away,” my mother said to me when I was getting divorced. She was right. I couldn’t see it then, but I truly treasure those blocks of time when the […]

If parenting is hard, step-parenting is water torture. In 1986, my husband—well, he wasn’t my husband yet—won the county spelling bee. I lost. His blue eyes and stellar spelling skills captivated me. We were 11. Later that year, I would write in my “Garfield” diary, Joni Edelman, Mrs. Joni Edelman, J. Edelman, 373 times—but who’s […]

The love for what I’ve lost magnifies the love for what is now. Every day as I love this baby in my lap, I think of my other baby. Poor older brother, poor missing one…The love for the first magnifies the love for the second, and vice versa. – Elizabeth McCracken, An Exact Replica of […]